Four rare poetry chapbooks and a super limited art edition 7" are offered by Ace Farren Ford and Tom Recchion's amazing new LP, Proscenium--his first in over six years!-- are now available in the LAFMS store.

The Tenses, Oblivia and Ju Suk Reet Meate, will play the UK's TUSK Festival Oct. 5-7 in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. They will be joined by FUSHITSUSHA, GATE, PELT, GRAHAM LAMBKIN & JASON LESCALLEET, HIEROGLYPHIC BEING, HILD SOFIE TAFJORD, PART WILD HORSES MANE ON BOTH SIDES, and MORE ARTISTS TBC. For more information, refer to the festival website.

The LAFMS website store will be closed for vacation between June 26 and July 15. If you want to inquire about items, place items on hold, or have other questions, please feel free to contact us at info@lafms.com.

OPENING RECEPTION - Saturday July 7 - 3:00 PM with a short set by John Weise

On display through Tuesday, 31 July 2012 in the Mike Kelley Gallery at Beyond Baroque

Open Friday 11 am - 6 pm, Saturday & others by appointment

ACE FARREN FORD has spent more than 40 of his 55 years being, what he Calls, an Artificial Artist. A founding member of the Los Angeles Free Music Society and original member of the noise group Smegma, he has appeared on countless lps and cds globally, many featuring his visual art as well. He has published several books of poems, and continues to draw, paint, and in the last decade, has developed a technique for collage, which is both very personal and totally random. A selection of these was recently shown at the Box in downtown's Art District for LAFMS: Beyond the Valley of the Lowest Form of Music.

Michael LeDonne-Bhennet passed away. Mike played in the BDR Ensemble with John Duncan and Tom Recchion, as well as Stillife with Dennis Duck, Michael Jon Fink, Tom Recchion and Chas Smith.

John Duncan: "Michael LeDonne-Bhennet, a.k.a. Mike Bennet, is gone. After a 20+ year hiatus, he got in contact again last year only to disappear again, as he tended to do. A cut-paste from Chas Smith: 'back in the late 80's, he just disappeared and ended up teaching in the public school system. The last time I had seen him was at a party... and he showed up covered with tattoos, a Mohawk and a pony tail braid that went down his back. He looked fucking scary. Then nothing for over 20 years. A couple years ago, there's knock on my front door and it's Bennett, he wants to go for lunch and we ended up laughing for about 3 hrs. He was looking for work and we kept in touch with e-mail, then 6 months ago he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. With that cancer, you're usually gone in 3, he lasted 6 and was still upbeat last week.' "I learned so much from this man, hope he was aware at least a little of how much. Much of the first music I ever made was together with him and Tom Recchion. When he wasn't actually part of it, he encouraged it. Or didn't. Chas says his ashes are to be released at sea, without ceremony. Mike talked about this decades ago, pointing to the ring in his ear as the way to pay for the service."

Tom Recchion:"Mike was great indeed. A rapid intellect and seeker. We would talk about music and art for hours as you do when you're young and have that time. The BDR Ensemble (Bhennet/Duncan/Recchion) is for me some of the best sound work I was ever part of. The Station Event had magic moments musically and kinetically with the ether and electricity of the city. A brilliant idea of John's to have Mike and I cloistered in the KPFK studios unable to hear him where he was taking calls of people phoning in commenting or participating in what Mike and I were playing. John couldn't hear what we were playing ... the group was united and divided. The only person who heard the entire mix that went out to the air was the engineer and the people tuning in to the program. The callers ranged from people loving the alchemy of what was happening to people clearly disturbed by it all or poking fun. One such caller ran to a phone booth and asked if he could play along, him not being able to hear us. He contributed drones on his harmonica just as Mike and I were moving in that direction. Another caller expressed his displeasure of the event and John calmly asked him why he stayed on listening, the old man clearly flustered by the action accused us of being Hippie Communists trying to take over the God-damn world. This was eerie and one of the most satisfying music encounters of my life. Mike and I played together in Stillife, and several times after that, until he disappeared and it all became legend. He was a formidable presence and very gentle. I could go on and on. I'm grateful to him for being part of it all."

As part of Ende Tymes--a 4 day experimental music and video fest--Joseph Hammer will be performing Friday, May 18 and with Thomas Dimuzio as Dimmer on Saturday, May 19 at Outpost Artists Resources (1665 Norman St, Ridgewood, NYC.

Take a trip in musical history all the way back to 1978... Tom Recchion is featured in LA musician David Ocker's blog about a 1978 concert series. Check out the photos and program from The Second Second Story Series, Concert One.